The StartX Files: Word to the Wise: Writer 638C - page 3

Testify, Brother

October 16, 2001

By
Brian Proffitt

The first big difference you will see when pulling down the latest
binary for OpenOffice (which is build 638C) is that it is smaller than
the binary for StarOffice 6.0 beta. Granted, a 76.9-Mb file is no slim
Minnie, but compared to the jumbo 118 MB installation file for
StarOffice 6.0, there is a significant amount of download time to be
saved here.

Setup was virtually identical in both applications, though
interestingly OpenOffice sets all of the components to be installed
when you chose the Custom installation path, while StarOffice does not
presume to do so. Interesting conspiracy? No, just something that I
noticed. There is, however, a much more significant difference in the
installations in that OpenOffice does not provide the Java Runtime
Environment that StarOffice does. Presumably, that's where all the
extra weight in the StarOffice installation binary is coming from.

Once installed, many of the same performance issues I noted with
the StarOffice beta were present on my 400 MHz Celeron SUsE 7.2
platform. Namely, the suite is slow to initially start and only
slightly faster in starting individual components after that. Function
wise, one could hardly complain about the speed. Files opened quickly,
dialog boxes snapped open nicely--again, very similar to how
StarOffice performed.

I was also very heartened to see that OpenOffice Writer had the
same file filtering capabilities I raved about for StarOffice. In
hindsight, this was to be expected, but since I have not been
following OpenOffice as well as I should, I was secretly worried that
the ability to open and save Word documents and track all revisions,
annotations, and comments at the same time was something Sun had
slipped in for their beta alone and had not yet propagated back to
OpenOffice. Not to worry, it seems.

Early observers of OpenOffice might remember that many of the
features from StarOffice 5.2 were cut out of the first builds of
OpenOffice, such as the Help system and spell checking. This was done
because these tools were initially third-party applications. The Help
system has been completely revamped and, while the interface is
identical to StarOffice 6.0's, it seems that build 638 of OpenOffice
has slightly more help entries than than its
counterpart. Spell-checking, in case you were wondering, is back as
well.

As you can see in the screenshot I took for this column, the
interfaces are almost identical for StarOffice and OpenOffice. But
there is one significant difference: font-handling. In this,
OpenOffice appears to lag behind just a bit. In the screenshot, I have
opened a Word document that deliberately has fonts not loaded yet on
my Linux machine. While both interfaces give the Courier font a
"scrunched" look, StarOffice seems to handle the nonnative
font a little bit better. Also, if you look closely at the
application's own fonts, OpenOffice's menu and window contents have a
jagged look.

Is this enough to kill off any chance of using this application?
Certainly not. In fact, based on what I have seen with these two
applications, I am more inclined to recommend OpenOffice over
StarOffice, especially for home and small business users.

This is a near thing, mind you, but I think that even though
StarOffice has a slightly more polished feel to it right this very
moment, this situation will clearly not remain static. You see, as
good as StarOffice is now, it is not likely to change much after the
final version of 6.0 is released. Sun, in the hopes of getting this
product out to the masses, simply cannot update StarOffice has often
as OpenOffice. It would drive their potential corporate customers
insane, to say the least. So, StarOffice will represent a solid office
suite for the corporate users who don't need a lot of version updates.

But for those of us who like to be on the cutting edge, I'm leaning
towards OpenOffice. Because, even with the very minor font concerns I
have with this application, I know that it will be updated with new
features a lot faster than I will see StarOffice 6.1.

OpenOffice represents the future, not just in terms of the latest
gadgets and gimmicks--but in the way software should be
developed. And, though I harbor no ill will towards Sun, I sort of
like the idea of directly helping out an open-source project.

Your own preferences will guide you, of course. But if you are
inclined to use StarOffice, I invite you to give OpenOffice a look as
well. You may find the choice between them a difficult one to make.

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